How to Attract the Talent You Need

An essential part of any successful business is the team behind it. Whether you are in the initial stages of building a business, or years into it, the importance of hiring people who will meet the needs of your business never diminishes. You know you need help, so how do you attract the ideal candidate for the job?

That’s a great question. We’ve made this easy-to-read 3-step guide to answer just that!

Step 1: Identify Who You Need

Before you even think about interviewing someone, you must first know who it is that you want to hire. It’s kind of like buying a house – you need to identify the qualities and characteristics you’re looking for, before you go house hunting. Try asking yourself the following questions to begin defining your ideal candidate.

• What is this person going to be doing for your business?
• What does success in this role look like to you?
• How do you want this role to affect your business?
• What type of person are you looking for in terms of skills, competencies, education levels, etc.?

Step 2: Advertise the Position to the Right Market

Once you know who you need, it’s all about finding them. Think of it like marketing. People can’t buy your products or services if they don’t know that they exist. In the same way, people are not going to apply for the job if they don’t know you have an opening. You must communicate the position to the kind of people that you want to hire. Even more so, you need to communicate the position in an enticing way that will excite people about the job. They should read the job description and think “I really want this job!”

Candidates want a position that is the right fit for them, so you have to accurately describe the position in the listing. After a candidate reads about your job opening, they should know whether or not it is something they would be interested in. You don’t want a person who is a bad fit for the position, because they will likely be miserable, and you won’t end up with the help that you need.

Clarity is everything in the business world. For example, our president, Denise Cagan shared, “I’ve tweaked my job descriptions several times. I think my initial one was a little bit more cut and paste. It sounded very transactional. And then, after tweaking it, we started to focus on the fact that we serve small businesses. You would be surprised how much that piques the interest of certain people.”

Step 3: The Interview Process

The last step is the interview process. You have found qualified candidates, but are they right for the job?

Typically, you’ll ask them to send in a resume. This is a great tool to get a basic understanding of your candidates’ qualifications, but remember that a resume is just a ticket in the door. You can’t find out everything about your candidate from their resume. In fact, a resume review should take no longer than a minute. If it takes you longer, then you are paying way too much attention to it. The interviews are where you really get to connect with your candidates and learn more about them.

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is winging the interview process. This isn’t a smart practice. You want to ask questions that are specific to the position that you are trying to fill. To figure out what questions to ask, go back to the qualities of your ideal candidate. When you were saying “I need this person to do X, Y, and Z”, ask questions that reveal those areas and focus on them.

Want to Learn More?

The information shared in this article along with more business growth strategies can be heard on our podcast, Nurture Small Business, where Jamie Van Cuyk joins host Denise Cagan to talk about all things hiring.

Jamie Van Cuyk is the owner and lead strategist of her own consulting business. She spent many years working for corporate, then started her first business which she ended up hating. Somewhere amid these unsatisfying experiences, she uncovered a passion for consulting. Jamie used this passion to create her current business, Growing Your Team, to help supply hiring frameworks and offer guidance for entrepreneurs like you.

And, if your wallet is crying at the thought of hiring more full-time staff right now, but you need assistance, DCA Virtual Business Support is here for you. Reach out to us to learn more about how we can help meet your needs through virtual administrative and creative assistants!